MH Philosophy 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In philosophy of mind, what is the 'hard problem of consciousness' as articulated by David Chalmers?
- Explaining how the brain processes sensory information
- Explaining why and how physical processes give rise to subjective experience (Correct answer)
- Proving that other minds exist beyond one's own
- Defining the boundary between conscious and unconscious mental states
Correct answer: Explaining why and how physical processes give rise to subjective experience
The hard problem asks why there is 'something it is like' to have experiences—why physical processes produce subjective, first-person phenomenal consciousness.
Question 2: What does Hegel mean by the 'dialectical' movement of history and thought?
- History progresses randomly without any underlying logic
- Ideas evolve through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis toward greater self-realization (Correct answer)
- Historical change is driven solely by material economic forces
- Thought progresses through empirical observation and induction
Correct answer: Ideas evolve through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis toward greater self-realization
For Hegel, thought and history advance dialectically—each idea (thesis) generates its contradiction (antithesis), which are reconciled in a higher synthesis.
Question 3: John Rawls' 'veil of ignorance' thought experiment is designed to:
- Show that true moral knowledge is impossible
- Derive principles of justice by imagining we don't know our place in society (Correct answer)
- Demonstrate that ignorance is morally blameworthy
- Argue that all persons have equal knowledge of the good
Correct answer: Derive principles of justice by imagining we don't know our place in society
Behind the veil of ignorance, rational agents choose principles of justice without knowing their social position, talents, or values, ensuring impartiality.
Question 4: Which position in the philosophy of mathematics holds that mathematical objects exist independently of human minds?
- Formalism
- Intuitionism
- Platonism (mathematical realism) (Correct answer)
- Nominalism
Correct answer: Platonism (mathematical realism)
Mathematical Platonism asserts that numbers, sets, and geometric objects are abstract entities that exist independently of any minds or physical objects.
Question 5: What is the central claim of Thomas Nagel's influential paper 'What Is It Like to Be a Bat?'
- Bats have no genuine conscious experience
- Objective physical science cannot fully capture the subjective character of experience (Correct answer)
- Animal consciousness is superior to human consciousness
- Consciousness can be fully explained by behavioral analysis
Correct answer: Objective physical science cannot fully capture the subjective character of experience
Nagel argues that even a complete physical account of bat echolocation would fail to capture what it is like, subjectively, to be a bat.
Question 6: In Aristotle's metaphysics, what is the distinction between 'substance' (ousia) and 'accident'?
- Substance is what exists in time; accident is what exists in space
- Substance is what a thing essentially is; accident is a non-essential property it happens to have (Correct answer)
- Substance is material; accident is immaterial
- Substance is universal; accident is particular
Correct answer: Substance is what a thing essentially is; accident is a non-essential property it happens to have
For Aristotle, a substance is an independent entity with essential properties, while accidents are contingent properties that can change without altering the thing's identity.
Question 7: Which 20th-century philosopher argued that scientific knowledge grows through 'paradigm shifts' rather than cumulative progress?
- Karl Popper
- Thomas Kuhn (Correct answer)
- Paul Feyerabend
- Imre Lakatos
Correct answer: Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' introduced the concept of paradigm shifts—revolutionary changes in the fundamental framework of a science.
MH Philosophy 4
In philosophy of mind, what is the 'hard problem of consciousness' as articulated by David Chalmers?